Fed. Judge Temporarily Halts Texas Abortion Law.
A Federal Judge in Texas granted the Justice Department’s request to stop the anti-abortion bill recently singed into law. (NY Times)
“In his 113-page ruling, Robert L. Pitman, a Federal District Court judge in Austin, sided with the Biden administration, which had sued to halt a law that has changed the landscape of the abortion fight and further fueled the national debate over whether abortion will remain legal across the country.
Judge Pitman used sharp language to criticize the law, known as Senate Bill 8, which was drafted to make it difficult to challenge in court by delegating enforcement to private individuals, who can sue anyone who performs abortions or “aids and abets” them.”
A Judge in Texas decided in a lengthy opinion that his Court could not allow the women of his state to be deprived of their Constitutional rights to abortion. A big questions is whether abortion clinics will return to normal operations or if the bill, even though suspended, will force the clinics to remain closed pending further proceedings. Needless to say litigation will continue for the foreseeable future and woman’s health is caught int the crossfire in the mean time.
